The Battle for Lake Tanganyika was a series of naval engagements that took place between elements of the Royal Navy, Force Publique and the Kaiserliche Marine between December 1915 and February 1916, during the First World War. The intention was to secure control of the strategically important Lake Tanganyika, which had been dominated by German naval units since the beginning of the war. The British forces—consisting of two motor boats named HMS Mimi and Toutou—were under the command of the eccentric Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey Spicer-Simson. The boats were transported to South Africa and from there by railway, by river, and by being dragged through the African jungle, to the lake.
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| rdf:type
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| rdfs:label
| - Battle for Lake Tanganyika
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| rdfs:comment
| - The Battle for Lake Tanganyika was a series of naval engagements that took place between elements of the Royal Navy, Force Publique and the Kaiserliche Marine between December 1915 and February 1916, during the First World War. The intention was to secure control of the strategically important Lake Tanganyika, which had been dominated by German naval units since the beginning of the war. The British forces—consisting of two motor boats named HMS Mimi and Toutou—were under the command of the eccentric Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey Spicer-Simson. The boats were transported to South Africa and from there by railway, by river, and by being dragged through the African jungle, to the lake.
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| sameAs
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| Strength
| - 1(xsd:integer)
- 2(xsd:integer)
- 3(xsd:integer)
- 4(xsd:integer)
- British:
- unknown shore batteries
- Belgian:
- unknown dhows
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| dcterms:subject
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| dbkwik:military/pr...iPageUsesTemplate
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| Partof
| - the East African Campaign of the First World War
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| Date
| - 1917-07-13(xsd:date)
- December 1915-July 1916
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| Commander
| - Geoffrey Spicer-Simson
- Gustav Zimmer
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| Caption
| - Lake Tanganyika, contested by the Britain, Belgium and Germany.
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| Issue
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| supp
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| startpage
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| Casualties
| - 1(xsd:integer)
- none
- British:
- unknown wounded
- Belgian:
- ~11 killed
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| Result
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| Campaign
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| Notes
| - *The sunken Belgian steamer Alexandre del Commune was later refloated and assigned to the British flotilla as HMS Vengeur.
*The German steamer Kingani was captured and assigned to the British flotilla as HMS Fifi.
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| combatant
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| Place
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| Conflict
| - Battle for Lake Tanganyika
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| endpage
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| abstract
| - The Battle for Lake Tanganyika was a series of naval engagements that took place between elements of the Royal Navy, Force Publique and the Kaiserliche Marine between December 1915 and February 1916, during the First World War. The intention was to secure control of the strategically important Lake Tanganyika, which had been dominated by German naval units since the beginning of the war. The British forces—consisting of two motor boats named HMS Mimi and Toutou—were under the command of the eccentric Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey Spicer-Simson. The boats were transported to South Africa and from there by railway, by river, and by being dragged through the African jungle, to the lake. In two short engagements, the small motor boats attacked and defeated two of their German opponents. In the first action, on 26 December 1915 the Kingani was damaged and captured, becoming HMS Fifi. In the second, the small flotilla overwhelmed and sank the Hedwig von Wissman. The Germans maintained a third large and heavily armed craft on the lake, the Graf von Götzen; this craft was attacked indecisively by Belgian aircraft and was subsequently scuttled. Developments in the land-based conflict caused the Germans to withdraw from the lake, and control of the surface of Lake Tanganyika passed to the British and Belgians.
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)